Busted! Myths and Facts About Burning Fat
-
J’aime Stratton
There are a lot of misunderstandings in the science of metabolism and fitness – enough to
confuse anyone, instructor and customer alike! Check out the explanations behind these 3
busted myths to better understand what your body is doing on the inside during and after
your Jazzercise class.
Myth: You should spend more time in the “fat burning zone” to burn more fat during your
workouts.
Sounds logical, right? The ‘fat burning zone’ is a popular idea touted in some exercise
programs, activity trackers, and fitness apps – and while it is not an inherently wrong
concept, it is often misunderstood. If you have ever had a customer ask you about the
recommendation to ‘stay in your fat burning zone,’ this mythbuster is for you!
So here’s the deal. At any given intensity of exercise, your body burns calories from the
different food fuels you eat – namely fat, carbohydrates, and to a smaller extent, protein.
The body’s demand for energy changes with the intensity of a workout, and this determines
which sources of fuel from which your body draws. When you exercise at a vigorous intensity,
your body happens to burn a greater percentage of calories from carbohydrates (glucose).
At lower intensities, your body burns a higher percentage of calories from fat. Though
‘burning fat stores’ may sound sexier than ‘burning carbohydrate stores,’ trying to stay in the
“fat-burning zone” for the duration of your workout is not the most effective way to improve
your fitness, manage your weight, or improve your body composition. If that logic was true,
why not skip exercise all together and just sit down? After all, in a resting state, most of the
calories we burn come from fat! But… we intuitively know that doesn’t make sense because if you’re burning less calories overall, a higher percentage of those calories coming
from fat is less meaningful. The examples below help illustrate this point.
Ultimately, the goal is for your customer to get the best and hardest workout he or she is
willing & able to get, right? So, for someone who is newer to Jazzercise and may not yet be
as physically fit, it makes sense for that person to pace him or herself in class to be able to
last for a full hour and feel successful. This customer might naturally work for a longer period
of time in the fat burning zone as they moderate their intensity. Perhaps they burn around
400 calories in class, and 60% of those calories come from fat – that’s 240 total fat calories.
Now, a customer who has been jazzing for a while and can really push themselves during the
top of the curve stretch without hitting the metaphorical wall may burn closer to 600 calories,
with an average of just 40% of those calories coming from fat. Here’s the thing: at just 40% of
calories coming from fat, this person still burns the same 240 fat calories, plus 200 bonus
calories. And the more we burn overall, the more effective the workout, and the greater
calorie deficit we create in the body – which is especially important for customers who are
trying to lose weight.
So, while more time working out at a lighter intensity may allow one person to last a full hour
and thus be a really helpful approach for that individual, aiming to stay in this zone for an
arbitrary amount of time might hold another person back from meeting his or her full
potential.
What’s the balance we should advise our customers to seek? My advice is to encourage
them to listen to their bodies and challenge themselves accordingly. There’s no reason to
hold yourself back if you know you could work harder, just for the sake of staying in the ‘fat
burning zone.’ Having said that, there’s also no reason to push yourself beyond your limits
and compromise the safety, enjoyment, and longevity of your workout, just for the sake of
total calorie burn.
Not surprisingly, the perceived exertion chart is a perfect guide and simple talking point here,
as it gives customers an easy illustration of how they can challenge themselves appropriately
throughout the workout. The natural curve of the line reminds us that throughout the course
of each class, we will all spend at least some time in the fat burning (moderate intensity)
zone. Best of all, the PEC a universal tool anyone can apply, as it’s based on each
individual’s perception of how hard he or she is working, which, conveniently, evolves and
expands as one’s physical fitness improves.
Myth: “Muscle weighs more than fat.”
You may have heard this from customers, or may have even said it yourself from time to time
– this is a common misunderstanding in the world of fitness and weight management. Often
it’s used as reassurance when someone is trying to lose weight and not seeing results on the
scale – ‘oh, you must just be gaining muscle.’ The reality is simply that the scale is only good
for a net number – over time, it tells you if you are on average burning more than, equal to,
or less than the number of calories you’re consuming on a day to day basis. The scale is not
a good measure of muscle gain or fat loss. On top of that, true muscle gain is a very slow
process so it’s unlikely to be the explanation for why the scale is not moving on any given
day. Unless you’re making a career out of body building, your strength training regimen is
unlikely to result in any pounds of muscle gain for a few months. For someone interested in
how their body composition is changing as they improve their fitness, body circumference
measurements (e.g. waist, thigh, upper arm) and functional strength assessments are more
accurate indicators.
Back to the myth at hand: the difference between muscle and fat is more one of volume
than one of weight – muscle is more compact than fat, but five pounds of muscle weighs the
same as 5 pounds of fat: 5 pounds! Think of your 5 pounds of muscle as a dumbbell, and
your 5 pounds of fat as a giant basket of feathers. The dumbbell takes up a lot less space
than the feathers – now, doesn’t it make sense that when we burn fat and strengthen our
muscles, we lose inches? Again, this does not necessarily equate directly to weight loss or
gain (which is more related to total calorie balance); it just reflects a healthy change in the
distribution of lean and fat mass in the body.
One more note on this myth – fluid plays a factor in the equation and can be a confounding
variable when using a scale to measure progress. When we work our muscles in class, we are
literally causing them stress. It’s a good stress, but stress nonetheless, which leads to a
temporary inflammatory response. In other words, muscle cells will retain extra water as the
tissues work to repair themselves. This fluid retention can lead to a temporary blip up on the
scale, so someone who weighs themselves regularly may observe this effect and
unnecessarily take it to heart. While this is a normal thing, it’s a good reminder to us and our
customers to stay well hydrated and properly fueled so our bodies have all the tools they
need to recover and thrive from our workouts.
Bottom line: remind your customers that Jazzercise is a perfect mix of aerobic and resistance
training to burn calories, improve fitness, and optimize body composition – namely, burn
excess fat and strengthen muscles. Whether or not they see this reflected on the scale on
any given day, they undoubtedly are experiencing these benefits every time they come to
class and get their dance on!
Myth: You can target fat burn in a specific part of your body – aka ‘spot reducing.’
If you’ve been teaching for more than… oh, say, six months, I would wager a guess that at
least one customer has at some point approached you about their ‘problem area.’ “What
can I do to get rid of this?” – is the common question, with a point, a smirk, and maybe even
a jiggle, of said body part. Commonly, the back of the upper arm, the love handle, the thigh
– I’m sure these sound familiar.
The unfortunate truth is, there is no such thing as spot reducing. Exercise does wonders, but it
falls just slightly shy of magic. Through exercise, we can strengthen the muscles underneath
the skin and fat, but we can’t ‘tighten up’ loose skin, and we can’t target fat burn in a
specific part of the body. The body burns calories as a whole system, not as parts. So, even
though you may be targeting specific muscles, there is no way to ‘pull the calories’ from the
fat around those muscles – we simply can’t control it. One way to illustrate this fact – if we
could spot reduce by working specific muscles, chewing lots of gum would make our faces
skinnier!
The corresponding thing to understand is that the body does not ‘convert’ fat to muscle.
They are two totally separate types of body tissue… so, while you may burn calories from fat
and thus decrease the size of your total body fat stores, and you may strengthen specific
muscles and thus increase their size, you can’t convert that pesky extra fat tissue into muscle.
It’s just not a thing.
Now, this doesn’t mean you have to be a Debbie or David Downer in your response the next
time a customer approaches you with this question. Reassure them that they are doing
exactly what they need to do by coming to class regularly and sweating their hearts out.
Encourage them to continue to work on strengthening the muscles underneath their target
areas, along with giving it their all for maximum calorie burn during the cardio sections of
class. It is exactly this combination of aerobic and resistance exercise that will help them
optimize the shape and distribution of muscle and fat in their bodies.
Resources for more information:
Taking Girth Measurements – PT Direct
Retrofit Body Composition Fact Sheet
is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with a
Master’s degree in Nutrition & Dietetics, and an ACE certified
group fitness instructor. She teaches Jazzercise in the
Cleveland, Ohio area and is an Instructor Development &
Training Specialist and Assessment Coordinator for Jazzercise,
Inc. in addition to her position as a registered dietitian and
weight loss expert for Retrofit, Inc.
Click Here to view other articles!